TheBrownBear

Correct. And it gets their foot in the door. Even if they don't get hired, if they interview well, word will get around to other GMs around the league. Rooney Rule is a win/win for the league and it's minority coaches. Martin's only been there for one season. And Marquise Brown did just put up his best season as a pro by a fairly wide margin.

Martindale was their DC.

Just hire Horsey already ya big dingus!

You might end up being right, but that's a lot conjecture right there and doesn't align with McD's history. Frazier was a former head coach with a long track record as an above-average DC. Daboll had multiple stints as a playcalling OC. If anything, McDermott seems to lean on guys with a lot of experience, which may be why we let a promising young coach like Dorsey get away.

John, he's referring to the week 5 game. And I agree with you, no desire to watch the playoff game again.

They gave up 550 yards in the biggest game of the year! You don't often see those kinds of numbers outside of Alabama vs. Northwest Arkadelphia Tech during week 2 of the CFB season.

Yeah, I texted that to my folks during the game. Multiple times where he completely turned his back to the defense while running backwards and often right into rushing lineman. His final play in regulation is maybe the worst I've ever seen from an experienced, HOF QB in his prime (though I'm sure Favre had a bunch that were similar...lol). It was so situationally braindead. I couldn't believe it.

Dude this is such a histrionic, over the top, and factually incorrect take, I'm not sure how to respond. 13 seconds was a travesty, but beyond that everything you've written is gibberish.

"If the defense held the offense to very few points early then it doesn't count because the game wasn't contested." That's not what I said at all. I said they played especially well when teams were made one-dimensional. And sure, they deserve credit for getting an early stop or two combined with the offense for putting teams in early holes. Complementary football is what McDermott is all about. I think the good DVOA numbers are reflective of the way that the Bills utterly dominated one-dimensional offenses and green QBs (See the Jets and Davis Mills game). And yes, I agree that the defense, McD/Frazier, deserve credit for devising schemes/plans to destroy those teams where some others failed (See Belichick against the same Davis Mills). But check the record against diversified/balanced offenses. Outside of the Pats games and first Chiefs game (when they were still scuffling), it was mostly a struggle - Bucs, Titans, Chiefs, Colts. We played a ton of TERRIBLE offenses this year.

Marvin Lewis never won a playoff game. McDermott has now won three. The last two seasons we were knocked out on the road against arguably the best team and quarterback in the league (certainly the best over the past 5 years). I don't know if McDermott is the guy to win us a Super Bowl (or multiple SBs) or if he's the next Marty Schottenheimer, but he's already shown more than Marvin Lewis who was consistently choking away home playoff games. Not sure how he screwed up an entire season. Seems to me we've won the division two straight years, made the playoffs in 4 of the last 5, and clearly have the best team in the AFC East heading into next season. You would have to be insane or the gambler of all gamblers to fire a young head coach like McDermott who has compiled the resume he has over the past five years. McDermott isn't perfect and no one is saying he is or that he should be above criticism, but this year showed us the same could be said for hoodie and Reid or a number of other coaches (including McVay who has found himself as the Super Bowl favorite just one week after blowing a 20+ point lead in a playoff game). It seems some posters have had a hard on for McDermott from the moment he became coach - even going so far as to consistently criticize his clapping, which has zero to do with his ability as a coach. I never really understood the backlash against a guy who has delivered us from 17 years in the football wilderness.

Yeah, I remember the "Is our defense elite?" thread or whatever it was called. I mostly stayed out of it, since it was hard to argue with the stats guys, but I never felt that this defense was anything special when it wasn't getting lucky with turnovers or playing against bottom barrel QBs. Even now, after it's failures were brought to life in epic fashion, someone will likely come defend Frazier by waving a Pro Football Reference team defense stats printout.

I don't know so much about this take. KC came out fired up and ready to play. They were an absolute machine until the end of half gaffe by Mahomes/Reid. I think that sort of took the sails out of their wind. In the second half they looked almost disinterested or like a team who thought they could turn it on when they needed to at the end. Goes to show you how quickly a game can change and that once you lose momentum it's hard to lock in and wrestle it back - even for the best of teams. That's why I've always believed that you should put the pedal to the medal the entire game the way we did against the Pats. You take a breather and you're inviting in what you saw yesterday from the Chiefs.

Our defense had to have been the most overrated unit in the entire NFL this year. They were great when a team was one dimensional (or made so by a quick start from our offense), but it didn't come close to holding up against better offenses and it seems utterly incapable of getting a big stop at critical moments of a game. In fact, the only time I can remember our defense making a truly big play in the second half of a contested game was Rousseau's pick of Mahomes at the 10 yard line in the regular season Chiefs game. Other than that, it seems teams were able to get whatever they wanted down the stretch against us in a close game (which is why we went 0fer in 1 score games this year). Addressing these defensive failures is my number 1 priority in the offseason if I'm Beane and I'd start with a long hard look at Leslie Frazier. Just curious - for those who have followed Frazier's career, is this kind of his MO? Beat up on weaklings only to become a bottom-5 defense against diversified offenses? And I get that "good offenses" are tough for anyone to stop. But we seemingly can't even slow these guys down for the most part.

Mahomes was putrid in the 2nd half. He looked like a rookie. It was shocking honestly.

Sorry for your loss. Your Dad sounds like a great guy.

He'll get over it. He's playing Pebble Beach this week.

I like Knox. I think he'll make another leap next year and be a solid top-5 to top-10 TE. I like Sweeney too as a second TE. I think we are set at the position.

Honestly, just goes to show there's no such thing as a perfect path or a single year window or whatever. Nothing is a given. It's the playoffs, every game is a new and different opportunity, and anything can (and seemingly will) happen. I believe we will continue to make the playoffs year in, year out with Josh, and we will eventually break through. This year was our first as the "hunted", taking everyone's best punch. Based on how we played down the stretch, I think we'll be better prepared to handle it next season.

BRB, gonna go troll Nick Wright for a quick minute

Nice to see Mahomes with the epic choke job

And this is why I HATE the Chiefs. Also, why is it that some millionaire football players would rather live life as a gangsta than just enjoy the fruits of their labor on the gridiron? It's bizarre.

Gotta tip my hat to the dude. GOAT in my book. Enjoy retirement, Tom.

Oh yes, those poor "objective" fans are just the victims of the majority of the rest of us fans who are Kool-Aid drinkers. How is this for objectivity? - 2 straight division crowns - 3 epic beatdowns in last 4 games against the GOAT NFL coach - 25 year old QB who is emerging as a top-5 player in the entire league - Coach/GM combo who is 4/5 in making the playoffs after 17 years of hopeless futility - Season ending road playoff losses to probably the best team in at least the past decade, with a HOF coach, otherworldly skill players (Kelce/Hill), and maybe the future GOAT at QB. And we were 13 seconds or a 50/50 coin flip away from taking them down this time. - About to build a stadium that will guarantee the Bills stay in town for at least the next 20 years, when only 8-9 years ago we seemed almost certain to lose them to Toronto. Yes - The loss was horribly painful. Yes - Mistakes were made in the final sequences that cost us a win and a SB opportunity. Yes - we need to get better in certain positions and yes the coaching staff needs to reflect and learn from this to avoid similar mistakes in the future. But we've all vented and commiserated over it for 6 days now. I'm personally tiring of the handwringing at this point, and I think a lot of the "Kool-Aid Drinkers" are probably feeling the same, which is why you're starting to see the blowback against these despondency threads. But, at the same time, this board exists for all Bills fans. We are all wired differently. And for some, they aren't ready to disconnect from the pain of last weekend and accept the objective reality that we have a very successful foundation in place at QB, GM and coach. I get it. I'm tiring of it, but I get it. And who am I (or any other Kool-Aid drinker) to tell other fans how to think, feel or grieve this loss.

Yeah, let's trade Josh. Free up space for some good linebackers and a great running back and we can go 7-9 for 17 years. JK. People like to point to Russell Wilson's struggles over the last 1.5 seasons or whatever, but the truth is a truly elite HOF QB gives you the best chance of making the playoffs and winning SBs, year over year. The really great ones (Brady, Rodgers, Manning, etc.) are in the picture pretty much every year, regardless of who they had around them. The elite QB contract makes it tougher to build a dominant team from top to bottom, but at least you've already got the most important piece in place. Then whatever resources you have left should be devoted to your defense and protecting your prized asset. You're essentially paying your stud QB to elevate the average (or rookie contract) skill position players around him (See Dawson Knox and Gabe Davis).

Why the hate for Shurmur? He's a bad HC, but he's been a good OC outside of his little stint in Denver where they didn't have a decent QB.